Mastodon Consider Following Summer Album With Winter EP

Mastodon are honing in on a new album, with drummer Brann Dailor revealing that the disc will drop sometime this summer. But that may not be all that's in store from the band.

Dailor tells Spin, "It's gonna be a summer release, so I feel like it needs to be amped. I don't feel like it needs to be slow, and doom and gloom. That's a winter album. We were actually talking about that earlier, like, 'Why don't we take some of the stuff that's really moody and slow and do, like, a winter EP?'"

But while an EP is something that's at least in the conversation, first and foremost on the band members' minds is their new studio album. Dailor tells Spin of the disc, "I feel like this record is a return to the more visceral exploration of, I don't know, exorcising demons. It's dark and it's creepy. It's that tool that we're able to use to somewhat better ourselves and make sure that we don't lose it."

At present, Mastodon have 15 songs recorded, but will probably cut that number down before the final track listing is decided. Among the song titles revealed, some of which are tentative, include: 'Tread Lightly,' 'Buzzard's Guts,' 'Scent of Bitter Almonds' and 'Aunt Lisa.' The first two cuts are rockers, while 'Scent of Bitter Almonds' reportedly offers a dreamier sound. And Dailor described 'Aunt Lisa' as "the craziest song on the record."

Dailor concludes, "We have a few really kickass rock 'n' roll songs on here. We have the metal, the heavy-heavy. We have the totally whacked out and bizarre. And then we have the super-hooky, big-chorus stuff that's still bizarre and still Mastodon -- but it's super catchy. It's wild, all over the place."